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This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | About 7,200 items (13.0 linear feet). |
| Abstract | Herschel Vespasian Johnson (1894-1966) was a United States foreign service officer whose career, 1921-1953, included posts in Europe, Latin America, and with the United Nations. The collection contains family, social, and personal correspondence. About half of the letters are from Johnson to his mother in Charlotte, N.C., describing his activities. Also included are clippings, speeches, photographs, daily journals and calendars of engagements, press releases, and scrapbooks of Johnson's public and private life. Among Johnson's diplomatic posts were London, 1934-1941; Stockholm, 1941-1946; and Rio de Janiero, 1948-1953. The Addition of January 1991 consists of 19 diaries and daily planners, 1921-1949; 13 scrapbooks, 1880-1966; photographs; and two photograph albums. The Addition of June 1991 consists of about 25 negatives, prints, and medals, relating to travels in South America and Europe in the 1920s and visits of the president of Brazil in the 1940s. |
| Creator | Johnson, Herschel Vespasian, 1894-1966. |
| Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
| Language | English |
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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Related Collections
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Biographical Information
Herschel Vespasian Johnson was a United States foreign service officer whose career, 1921-1953, included posts in Europe, Latin America, and with the United Nations.
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Scope and Content
The collection contains family, social, and personal correspondence. About half of the letters are from Johnson to his mother in Charlotte, N.C., describing his activities. Also included are clippings, speeches, photographs, daily journals and calendars of engagements, press releases, and scrapbooks of Johnson's public and private life. Among Johnson's diplomatic posts were London, 1934-1941; Stockholm, 1941-1946; and Rio de Janiero, 1948-1953. The Addition of January 1991 consists of 19 diaries and daily planners, 1921-1949; 13 scrapbooks, 1880-1966; photographs; and two photograph albums. The Addition of June 1991 consists of about 25 negatives, prints, and medals, relating to travels in South America and Europe in the 1920s and visits of the president of Brazil in the 1940s.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Correspondence, 1910-1969.
Arrangement: chronological.
Family, social, and personal correspondence. About half of the letters are from Johnson to his mother in Charlotte, N.C., describing his activities. Other correspondents include lifelong friends from Charlotte and elsewhere in North Carolina, as well as personal friends in the diplomatic service and the State Department, and foreign government officers. Among the topics represented in the correspondence are: the Episcopal Church in Brazil and Bishop Louis C. Melcher; political matters discussed with Swedish correspondents; English Speaking Union (1959); Knights of Malta, Sovereign Order of St. John of Jerusalem (July 1959); Sigma Chi fraternity-- the organization and individual brothers; books purchased; Johnson's Chinese porcelain collection; detailed description of the furniture and decorations at the embassy at Rio de Janiero (November 1952); and correspondence with the Truman Library concerning placing the main body of Johnson's unofficial papers there (May 1961-June 1962).
An index of correspondents, filed in Folder 1, includes the names of approximately 330 correspondents and covers about two-thirds of the personal letters (not including letters to Johnson's mother). The index is not complete either as to the correspondents or the dates of all their letters.
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Series 2. Speeches and Press Releases, 1941-1953 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
| Folder 297 |
1941 #03755, Series: "2. Speeches and Press Releases, 1941-1953 and undated." Folder 297 |
Folder 298-300
Folder 298Folder 299Folder 300 |
1946 #03755, Series: "2. Speeches and Press Releases, 1941-1953 and undated." Folder 298-300 |
Folder 301-304
Folder 301Folder 302Folder 303Folder 304 |
1947-1949 #03755, Series: "2. Speeches and Press Releases, 1941-1953 and undated." Folder 301-304 |
| Folder 305 |
1952-1953 #03755, Series: "2. Speeches and Press Releases, 1941-1953 and undated." Folder 305 |
Undated #03755, Series: "2. Speeches and Press Releases, 1941-1953 and undated." Folder 305 |
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Series 3. Clippings, undated.
Folder 306-308
Folder 306Folder 307Folder 308 |
Clippings #03755, Series: "3. Clippings, undated." Folder 306-308 |
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Series 4. Profession-Related Materials, undated.
Materials in this series include invitations, programs, souvenirs, lists, and mimeographed information papers about locations where Johnson was stationed.
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Series 5. Volumes, 1914-1966 and undated.
Arrangement: chiefly chronological.
Volumes primarily consist of engagement books and also include photograph albums, mailing lists, and a list of bound books bought by Johnson, 1941-1966.
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Series 6. Additions
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Addition of January 1991 (Acc. 91028): Diaries, Planners, Scrapbooks, Photographs,
and Other Items, 1922-1950
Diaries and daily planners of Herschel Vespasian Johnson as well as scrapbooks, two photograph albums, and photographs. Diaries include short descriptions of daily activities, travel, professional, and social engagements; planners list brief details of daily appointments. The scrapbooks were created largely by Johnson's mother. Contents document Johnson's diplomatic career, but there are also many items relating to Johnson's family and to his leisure activities. Items include newspaper clippings, photographs, and correspondence.
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Addition of June 1991 (Acc. 91086): Negative Albums and Other Items, 1921-1928 and
undated
Negatives, prints, and medals. The negatives and prints relate to travels in South America and Europe and are chiefly from the 1920s. Negative albums contain image listings by Hershel V. Johnson. Some of the medals are commemorative of visits of the Brazilian president in the 1940s and others are fraternity service awards.
Title of the negative albums are from original labels.
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Items Separated
Processed by: SHC Staff
Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007
Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, October 2009; Dawne Howard Lucas, July 2021
Updated because of additions by Virginia Ferris, November 2012
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